Conversations with corporate researchers
Sarah Shain
Shopper Insights Analyst, Red Bull
Tell us about your journey to your current position at Red Bull.
While I’ve always been interested in human behavior, I never foresaw myself doing market research. My undergraduate major was in political science and I started my career working in politics in Washington, D.C. After shifting to marketing at a cosmetics company I became interested in consumer psychology. This led me to my master’s program at USC, which was a unique blend of data analytics coursework layered with psychological theory and research methods. While at USC I worked in shopper insights at Mattel. I learned the basics of what it means to be a retail-focused researcher on a lean team at a massive CPG company. Right after I received my master’s degree, I was recruited by Red Bull to join the shopper insights team.
What tips do you have for marketing researchers managing their first online community?
Be prepared to invest time into the community. You will get the most out of it when you engage with the members and share results back with them. While time-consuming, it’s worth it. Additionally, I’ve found success by making our surveys very user-friendly. I keep the point scales and grids to a minimum; always keep the length of the survey in mind; and use casual, informal language – and memes where necessary – to keep our community members interested. I’m constantly asking myself, “Would I want to take this survey and actually finish it?”
How do you ensure research outcomes are seen as actionable by your team at Red Bull?
Our team is part of the sales organization so it is very important that our research has clear takeaways and are actionable in-store. We stay in constant communication with our sales team in the field so we are aware of our retailers’ needs and challenges, ensuring that we can be the best partners for them and create the best experience for the Red Bull shopper. We present each project with its own story and narrative, providing context for what we see as behavioral experts and how the team can implement the insights in-store.
What are some of the day-to-day challenges you face as a researcher?
My biggest challenges are managing the various projects we are working on at any given time, while simultaneously giving our online community as much attention as possible. I am also always challenged to find new and creative ways to ask questions that shoppers are able to answer – the human mind is so complex that we as consumers often aren’t able to articulate why we do what we do.
What excites you about coming to work each day?
I’m most excited about the freedom I have to explore topics that interest me. Red Bull empowers us to be curious and ask questions. I love that every day I have the opportunity to learn something new about our shoppers and the retail landscape. As an added bonus, I have an amazing team and we have a lot of fun together.